Shadows from the Past: A 7th Year Story
by Emmeline Vance
Summary: Needless to say, Harry's past six years at Hogwarts haven't been the easiest. But this year will be unlike any other, and he and all wizards and witches alike will face new perils...and some of the old ones will come back to haunt them...


Chapter One  
  
A loud "screech!" awoke Harry from his slumber. [I]What had I been dreaming about?[/i] He thought. For a while it was hard for him to remember, but before long it flooded back to him...and he just as soon wanted to forget it. Harry shook his raven-hair covered head as though he could simply shake the dream out of his head, but he knew he couldn't. He instead forced himself out of bed to examine the barn owl that had flown through the half-opened window and rested itself on Harry's broken desk chair.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Harry harshly questioned the own as he stood next to the chair. "Any news is surely bad news...it's not like you're Pig or Alden."  
  
Alden was an owl that belonged to Hermione's summer piano teacher, who, last summer discovered by Hermione, was a witch. Harry almost smiled as he thought of all the stories Hermione had chatted about—everything she had learned from Mrs. Lunasky, how Mrs. Lunasky had already known her identity from The Daily Prophet (which Harry groaned at when she mentioned it), etc.,etc., until Ron and Harry finally yelled at her to "Shut up!"  
  
"So give me the letter," Harry said drearily. At this, the owl gave a shrill hoot and stuck out its leg. "Shush! Uncle Vernon will have a fit!" The owl glared at him with such a look of pure superiority, that Harry started yelling at the creature. "What do you know that I don't!? You're just an o-" Harry realized what he was doing-yelling-halfway through the sentence and remained frozen and silent. Still no bursting Uncle Vernon or the piercing screams of Aunt Petunia.  
  
"Okay, never mind," Harry said, taking the letter from the owl's foot. He was nervous about opening it. Why shouldn't he be? After the events at the end of his sixth year, he had been ever more depressed and on the edge. A new wave of fury and sadness swept over Harry as he remembered...his friend out for three weeks almost, and everyone sure she would die. Ginny. [I]But she's okay[/i], Harry reassured himself. Reassuring didn't do much for him these days.  
  
Turning the letter over, Harry saw that gold ink glazed the front of the fold. The letter read: Mr. Potter The Dursley Residence 4 Privet Drive IMMEDIATE DELIVERY AND READING  
  
"Immediate...reading?" Harry whispered curiously. As much as this statement worried Harry, he knew he should follow the directions. He turned the letter over again, and noticed that the ends were held together with a scarlet seal. Stamped into the seal was an elaborately detailed phoenix. [I]No...if that phoenix represents what I think it does, it probably is bad news...[/i] Harry thought, sighing deeply. Nevertheless, he tore the letter open and immediately, as the instructions said, read.  
  
[I]Dear Harry,[/i]  
  
[I]I hope you are having a good—oh, never mind, we're past foolish pretending. I'm sure you summer has been filled with horrible memories and guilt, but please, Harry, at least try to get yourself out of your room and try to forget about the past. Voldemort is still out there destroying families, and we must save his possible future victims.[/i]  
  
[I]Maybe I don't even need to be giving you this lecture, but I sincerely doubt that. I just hope you have been using your head and not putting yourself in danger. I'm writing you this letter because I have something very important you have to tell your aunt and uncle. Go down and tell them the whole truth about the events of the past year or so. They need to know, and I assure you that you will not be kicked out of the house. Right now you probably think I'm completely crazy, but you must go downstairs to speak with Petunia and Vernon right at this moment. If you don't, I will know, and I'm afraid you'll be receiving another letter from me. I'm sure you'll understand, but Harry, just remember it is extremely important that you go right now.[/i]  
  
[I]Yours sincerely,[/i] [I]Prof. Dumbledore[/i]  
  
"That was, I think, the strangest letter I've ever received," Harry told the air as he tossed Dumbledore's letter down on the bed before sitting next to it. For a moment he considered disobeying the Professor's commands, but when Harry pictured Dumbledore's stern, worried, and urgent look, he knew he had to go downstairs. He had no idea how he would start telling his aunt and uncle, but he supposed he would begin with showing them the letter he had just received.  
  
Harry stood up from the bed and forced his legs to move, muscle by muscle, over to the door of his room. He pulled open the door and walked slowly down the steps, his mind buzzing with what he would say when he faced Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. Halfway to the bottom landing, Harry realized that he had left Dumbledore's letter on his bed. He sprinted back up to the safety of his room. Just as he reached the foreboding letter on his bed, the same owl as before flew through the window and landed on Harry's bed. Harry snatched the letter from the owl's clenches and tore it open to read the short message.  
  
[I]Harry-[/i]  
  
[I]Please don't hesitate...I know talking to your relatives doesn't seem like a good idea, but I ask that you go now.[/i]  
  
[I]-Prof. Dumbledore[/i]  
  
"I... I'm not hesitating!" He yelled at the owl through clenched teeth. He was filled with fury and confusion, but he still retreated back to the stairs. Making his way nervously down the stairs, he heard Uncle Vernon's voice coming from the sitting room. When he finally reached the landing, he walked through the kitchen and stopped before entering the sitting room. Rounding the corner unsurely, Harry announced, "Um, Uncle Vernon..." But he stopped as he saw Uncle Vernon's frustrated and surprised face looking at him. But something surprised Harry even more. Stunned him, in fact.  
  
Sitting across from Uncle Vernon, on the Dursley's primly upholstered chair was Albus Dumbledore. 


End file.
